Former Northern Kentucky statehouse Rep. Buddy Wheatley received an endorsement from the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, according to an announcement from the organization.
“Buddy Wheatley is the independent leader that Kentucky deserves – a fourth-generation firefighter and retired fire chief. Buddy knows what it means to serve,” said Executive Director Travis Brimm.
Wheatley is running against Republican incumbent Michael Adams. The general election between Adams and Wheatley will be hotly contested, and one of the race’s main talking points could be voting locations and issues in Kenton County — Wheatley’s home county.
“Incumbent Michael Adams is a DC political insider who has spent his career repressing the vote and deepening the swamp – including caving to election deniers and weighing pulling Kentucky out of an independent voter verification system,” Brimm said.
Wheatley lost his bid for reelection in the 65th House District, partly because redistricting in 2022 changed his district to be more suburban and thus more Republican-leaning, and away from the Democratic-leaning parts of the district in Covington.
Republicans argued it came down to candidate quality — Republican Stephanie Dietz became the first woman to win the seat.
Further, Kenton County Democrats point to the changes in the reduction of voting locations that they say suppress voters.
Wheatley faces a tough battle, though. Adams lost two NKY counties, but he won by more than 100,000 votes statewide, and time will tell if Wheatley has the name recognition outside Northern Kentucky that Adams shares statewide.
“My Democratic opponent could not even carry a legislative district where Charles Booker got 48% of the vote, 10 points ahead of his statewide performance; that does not bode well for him in November, in Northern Kentucky or statewide,” Adams said in May.